The Novel Strumpet Reviews The Book: New York to Dallas (In Death #33) by J.D. Robb!

I feel like there should be a loud trumpet call, or perhaps a band of minstrels announcing the posting of a new review by the Novel Strumpet. I think that just seems logical you know… Right?

Anyway, before I start babbling on and on, our wonderful strumpet has just sent in a wonderful review of New York To Dallas by J.D. Robb! Now, I’m an honest guy and with that said, I love to read every book that crosses my path, which is why I’ve read every book in this series…

Okay, now I’m a liar… but I do want to start and every time I read a Novel Strumpet review I say, I need to read that… and then I look at my Buffy The Vampire Slayer box set sitting on the desk and I say…”Oh yes…”

WOO HOO…or should I say…YEE HAW! Roarke is back! I mean Eve Dallas and her crew are back. With Roarke. *sigh* 🙂

First off, what the hades is up with this title anyway? They always end in “In Death”…that should’ve been my first clue that something was amiss.

The story: Basically years ago when Eve was a new cop, she stumbled upon her first big bust – Isaac McQueen – a sick child rapist who had a sound proof cell built in his apartment where he held little girls…and you can fill in the rest. This was the case where Eve met Feeney (her mentor) and started her climb in Homicide. This case changed her life. Now she’s going to have to relive it again, because McQueen’s escaped and he’s gone to Dallas, TX to start his ‘collection’ up again and to get his revenge on the cop who put him away.

WARNING….WARNING….WARNING…SPOILERS AHEAD…SPOILERS AHEAD

So it didn’t take long to figure the title was a play on subject and location, after all it’s well known that Eve got her last name from the city she was “found” in and now she’s a cop in NY. It also didn’t take long to figure out (at least not for me, Eve took a while to get there) that the woman McQueen got to help him this time around is none other than Eve’s mom. How’s that for an atomic kick to the old psyche?

I can’t decide if the fact that it really centers only on Eve is right or wrong. On the one hand, she’s left Peabody in New York running the investigation from that end and I would’ve loved to have gotten a taste of Peabody really getting to spread her detective wings alone. On the other hand, I understand that Eve is going through the biggest hurricane of psychological sh*t storms so it makes sense to just focus mostly on her. The other characters pop up to center her, so they aren’t forgotten, but I still would’ve really loved to see more of the NY crew, at least Roarke *grrrrrr* is with her.

I did think that the psychological trauma was handled really well. The frustration Roarke *rawr* feels, how he tries to cope, the way Eve tries to cope, etc. is so heartbreaking. The conversation Eve has with one of McQueen’s new young victims is just spot on. And just watching Eve try and hold it together is enough of a roller coaster without the mystery tagged on. Which was part of the novel’s problem.

The fact that McQueen goes to Dallas and that his new partner is Eve’s mom just being coincidences is…ok I’ll say it…lame. Granted I said a few choice words when I figured that out, but still it’s lame. At the very least, McQueen could’ve hacked into something to discover Eve’s past as far as where she’s from and what her father did to her. Think of how really screwed up it could’ve gotten, he could’ve taunted her on so many levels with that. I guess you could keep the mom as an f’ed up coincidence, but McQueen using Dallas, TX? C’mon! I get that two of his former victims live there, but still. That really was the biggest let down of this book. So much wasted potential there.

That being said, it’s still a good “In Death” book. I’m interested to see if the title change will be a new ongoing theme. Once again, Eve prevails and I get A LOT of Roarke time *drool* which is really what it’s all about. Ok, maybe not…yeah it is ;P